At almost the same time last year, I bought a book at a bookstore in Singapore entitled LEAN IN. I’m sure a lot of you have heard or even read this book, where Sheryl Sandberg, the COO of Facebook, shares her struggles of being a woman in an industry dominated by men. I loved that book, simply because I could relate to most of the scenarios she had relayed. In the book, she encouraged women to support each other and help each other get to the top.

I often wondered after that how I can offer support to other women. The only way that I know how right now is through the workshops that we have that help these women to live their dreams. Just to share, 80%-90% of our workshops are attended by women. Manila Workshops’ aim is to help people achieve their dreams of becoming an entrepreneur and to pursue their passion, and i’m glad that there are more women who have decided to use their talents, their strengths and their skills to lead happy and successful lives.

When I was invited to speak at the S.T.E.A.M. Ahead in ASEAN: A Forum for Women and Technology, I wasn’t sure if I could talk in front of great women. I felt that I wasn’t worthy. What could I possibly say to help these women?

Thinking about the things that inspired me to push myself, I realized that it was because I heard stories from other women, and was inspired by them. So stomped over my fears and insecurities, and I said yes to sharing my own story.

S.T.E.A.M. Ahead in ASEAN: A Forum for Women and Technology

I was in a panel of truly inspiring women to and most of these ladies I know have undergone heartaches and challenges in being a “woman in tech”. The tech startup world in the Philippines, much like Silicon Valley, is dominated by men. In Taxumo alone, I am the only female in a group of 5 founders. But you know what? I think we, ladies, are very much capable of starting our our business, leading a team, or studying and applying skills (like coding, flying planes, etc.) that were previously thought to be only for men.

As Atty. Kristine, our moderator, went through the questions, a lot of things were going on in mind, which I wanted to share. After the event, I wrote it down. I apologize that I only got to post it now. Here are some of my thoughts on the things mentioned:

Women in Tech Panelists with Atty. Kristine

Our generation is unique, born before and living through the 4th Industrial Revolution of digital automation and cloud computing. Can you recall a time before the internet? Before you started your tech companies? How was your work and company like?

Well, my first job was working for an advertising agency, so my perspective is from a marketing angle. Comparing how they do this today is definitely faster from how things are done today due to technology. Exchange of data is faster. Before we used to have to send huge files via CD or tapes if it were videos, since big data that huge can’t be transmitted via email alone. For huge files like Movie ads, I used to go to the movie house offices to submit tapes. To get client’s approval, I personally had to go to their office to show them the artwork and get approval. For market research, we literally had to talk to a lot of people just to get their feedback on things. A lot has changed. Now, with technology, large data can be transmitted real time. Feedback can be given to you via social media. These giant players like Google and Facebook can actually give you accurate data and statistics that can help your research.

Do you think there is a difference in the treatment of women in your workplace then? What are the challenges you faced? Do you have any stories of failure you can share?

I think a challenge is balancing time for family and balancing time for the business. It’s a daily struggle, but what I have learned in the 4 years of struggle is that we can do it. It’s about accepting that it is indeed a challenge, develop a system that would work and then work around that system that you because for sure, there will come a time that you will need to work around it.

What urged you to start your tech business?

The software that we developed is called Taxumo. Taxumo is an end-to-end software as a service that helps micro-small business owners, freelancers and professionals prepare, file and pay for their taxes. The reason why we created this is that I personally felt the pain of having deal with the process of filing taxes for my small business. It was so time consuming and I couldn’t concentrate on fixing and growing my business. A lot of my precious time was spent on taxation. And even if I had a freelance accountant during that time, it was still a tedious process for me AND my accountant. When we automated it locally (since my husband is an “IT” guy), we cut the time spent almost in half. This is what inspired us to continue this project and help the small business owner file the 16 forms that they need to pay every year.

How do you think technology acts as the great equalizer?

For me, technology acts as an equaliser in a way where opportunities are laid out where it can get to as many people as possible, where ideas can be shared and commented on and where resources are available to make your life easier. For example, for moms like me who would want to spend as much time as possible with their kids, they can do so now because of the available platforms that allow them to work from home. There are tools like Skype or Facebook Messenger that will help save you the time and effort of going to another place to meet with a client. There are more efficient ways to collaborate with a team using Google Drive, Trello, etc. All of these resources are available for us to us and we can use it in a way that would best compliment our lifestyle.

Does technology help in creating a gender neutral playing field?

It definitely helps in creating a neutral playing field. As I mentioned, all of these technology based tools, resources and information are now readily available to anyone. At the end of the day, it’s how a person uses and optimizes technology that would make the difference. It’s how one uses technology to compliment their own personal strengths that would make them succeed.

I think our greatest enemy, though, is still ourselves. We, women, need to stand up for what we believe in. We need to voice out our opinions and pursue our greatest dreams while letting go of our worst enemy — fear. We need to stick together and help one another. We need authenticity, empathy and love as we lean in and we push each other up to where we can be leaders in our fields and the light of our homes.

According to the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report of 2015, the Philippines ranked 7 out of 145 countries, with a gender gap score of 0.790 (1.0 = equality and 0.0 = inequality). The full report is in this page: http://reports.weforum.org/global-gender-gap-report-2015/economies/#economy=PHL I’m glad that gender equality isn’t that much of a problem here as it is in the rest of the world. But even with such a high ranking, I always wondered why is it that in the corporate world, and even now in the start up community, there are not a lot of female leaders and founders.

As Philstar mentioned in their article about the Filipina CEO Circle event that I, too, attended the other day, a recent survey conducted by KPMG R.G. Manabat & Co. among the top 1,000 corporations has shown that very few of these companies were led by women (only 68 out of the 770 companies that they contacted were led by Filipina CEOs). As I listened to some of the successful women in that conference, and as I thought about my other female friends and relatives (those who have achieved their goals and those who are still struggling), this is an insight that I have picked up that I want to share with you.

Be inspired!

We need to think that we are Worth it!

Masyado tayong mabait (We are too nice!). Ever since we were young, we, ladies, have been taught to respect elders (parents, teachers, etc.). Like the men, we were taught to study hard and pursue our dreams. No one cornered us and taught us differently. No one said that ladies couldn’t do the different things that men did. No one told us that there was a limit to the opportunities that we could grab. We were never told that there was a limit to what we could do. It is “us” — we limit ourselves.

We don’t think we are capable of traveling alone. We think we should wait for that promotion to land on our laps, because asking for it might be too domineering. We should not speak our minds if we feel that we are not valued enough in a company, because that would be too rude. We think that we can’t say no to things that our family and friends ask of us, because it’s “rebelling” and not very polite, even if it means giving up important things like health and our biggest dreams. We think that we should all stay at home, take care of the kids, cook food, because that is what the society expects us to do. We almost always think we are not good enough for that opportunity that lands our way. Oftentimes, we say no.

Get this, all of these examples are based from real experiences and stories that I had with friends and family. Hey, some of these are also my experiences. These thoughts are, sad to say, real. We think these things. We continuously tell our friends and family about wanting all of these things for yourself, but we hesitate to make things happen. We think we are not worth it. Just recently, I came across a single friend who finally gained independence, and I was telling her of all the beautiful and amazing things that she could do. She was going on and on though about it being the first time that she was all alone. I told her to stop sulking, because if it were me in her position, I would probably be traveling the world and making all of my dreams a reality.

When was the last time you have thought about YOU? You may be in your 20s, 30s, or even in your 40s, going through your daily routine, but is what your doing really that something that you have dreamed of doing? Have you been brave enough to say YES to opportunities that come your way? Have you loved yourself lately? Have you done things that you have always wanted to do without feeling guilty? Have you just enjoyed and lived?

As Basha from the movie One More Chance would say, I want to stop wondering “what if” I want to know “what is”.

If you haven’t thought about these things, you should. You are worth it.

P.S. My friends and I started a group of women who support each other in accomplishing their goals. Visit is at http://beautybizbliss.com and please do sign up!

It’s 1:00 PM here in Manila and I am in my “Game-On” mode. It’s been weeks since we launched our Beauty Biz Bliss Community, and admittedly, I have had not time to write this announcement. It’s not because I’ve been slacking off, but on the contrary, I’ve been making things happen. I wanted to spread the news about this community at the proper time. And I think, now is the perfect time, since we will be launching one of our projects (the website) in a few weeks.

We have received questions on what Beauty Biz Bliss is and what’s it all about. Apparently, one of the buzz words in this day and age, is COMMUNITY. By definition, this is what a community means.

A community is a social unit of any size that shares common values, or that is situated in a given geographical area (e.g. a village or town).

Why has this become something that is so talked-about, when it has been there since time immemorial? I think it’s because of the fact that with the advent of technology, sharing of ideas and common values can now be communicated and shared faster. You can now more efficiently connect with people, in our case, ladies with the same beliefs and values. Before, these people gathered in a certain geographical area, but with the advent of the internet, we can just gather online — in a Facebook group, in a platform like Meetup.com or create a circle in Leanin.org, etc. We can even just chat using Viber, Whatsapp, etc.

As a testimony to this, the core idea of establishing Beauty Biz Bliss started when Martine of MakeitBlissful.com, Frances of topazhorizon.com and yours truly, was formulated in Facebook messenger several nights in the past when we talked about our own issues as women. We then realized that we could grow this community and give the same support (support that we were getting from each other, thus, becoming more successful in the things that we get into) to other women. This was when we finally decided to create Beauty Biz Bliss. We then sought the help of our ever reliable Project Manager, RJ Dancel to join us make things happen.

Frances, Ginger and Martine with RJ!

What is Beauty Biz Bliss?

Our mission for Beauty Biz Bliss is to empower women to love themselves, pursue their dreams, and to build a blissful community of like-minded women that can act as a support group for each other. We know that there are women out there, of all ages, stature and who come from different walks of life, who would want a solid community who understands their needs and who would be willing to work with them to achieve their goal. We all ourselves #bossbellas and #happyrebels because we have succeeded in pursuing our unique passions and earning well from our endeavours—even though we were told this can’t be done, and we know there are so many talented Boss Bellas and Happy Rebels out there. We want to find these ladies!

What our community does?

To fulfill this goal, we set up different Beauty Biz Bliss projects, which will help women learn more about and appreciate themselves, give them knowledge and confidence to hone their craft, and connect with other women who will be their support group. We will do this in an environment that inspires creativity and casual but empowering conversations. Everything will be beautiful and blissful!

BeautyBizBliss.com Website: In this site, ladies of all ages can engage with different members of the community and look for potential collaborations. They are free to create personal messages, create group discussions or start forum topics. We will have a free access and a premium membership access, where we will give more perks like free tickets to events that we create and access to different materials, tools and tips! Those who are premium members will also be featured in a portion our page as the Boss Bella of the month.

Beauty Biz Bliss Gatherings: We will create beautiful and inspiring gatherings and in those gatherings, we will tackle topics on beauty, business and bliss. We will invite women experts who are also part of the community to do that talks. We will also invite brands who support women to be part of the event by giving out fabulous freebies and tools that these women can use to achieve your personal and professional goals.

We definitely have more in-store for the women in this community. Our goal is to build this community and have women not only from the Philippines, but from different parts of the world, gather, share share stories and lend support to each other.

What happened during the BBB’s first gathering?

Okay, just to share with you what we do during gatherings, I will share with you what happened during the first ever Beauty Biz Bliss Gathering. Well, first of all, prior to the launch, I had a great time coming up and collating the wonderful Beauty Biz Bliss Kit that was given to all the attendees. The kit was made up of items that Martine, Frances and I use.

The Beauty Biz Bliss Kits!

Inside (and outside since the items could not fit inside the box anymore) the Beauty Biz Bliss are items that we love and use!

We had the gathering at Co.Lab. We knew that this was the perfect venue for an event that exuded both power and grace. And not to mention, the Co.Lab team is also made up of powerful women!

Thank you Co.Lab for hosting our first BBB gathering!

The styling was care of Hey Holiday. Let me tell you just how amazing Alessa of HeyHoliday is! She really understood the vision and executed it well. The venue was inspiring, motivating and comforting! 🙂

This is how the beautiful and powerful the place was!

The tables were send for the journaling activity that we had. Thank you Gourdo’s for the materials (http://www.gourdos.com/)

Speaking of activities, we had two activities during that afternoon! Well, four, if you count eating and networking! BTW, thank you Bobby of the Cuisinero for the yummy food and Bayani Brew for our drinks! Thank you, Ron, for supporting this event!

We started the afternoon by introducing Beauty Biz Bliss and what we stand for. We also introduced what was in store for all the ladies in the community. Then, each one introduced themselves to everyone else. It was such a nice feeling getting to finally know and meet people whom you normally would just follow online or read about online. There was a lot of “oh! So it’s you!” reactions from the ladies. The mix of women was just perfect — we had creative entrepreneurs, bloggers, women in tech, women in traditional businesses, coaches, authors, women in beauty and fashion, women community heads, leaders in the corporate world, startup founders, and other fields. I loved the diversity and this is what we really want to achieve for each gathering.

*Photo from RJ of TheMillenialPanda.com 🙂

After introductions were done, we moved on to an activity that was sponsored by Moleskine! We all created the first pages of our journals. We had materials also from Gourdo’s that we could use.

The 3 winners got books from author and Boss Bella Marianne Mencias. The book was What’s Your Life’s Masterpiece? 🙂 I have a copy and it is a very inspiring book!

The next activity was to design our own shoes! The shoes were lovingly customized for the BBB gathering by Boss Bella Elayne from Spring Manila.

We also invited Boss Bella Jeng of Sucker for Succulents to teach us how to decorate our shoe!

Thank you, Jeng and Elayne, for all the support!

The contest of designing their shoes is still ongoing and the prize are totebags from Brownroots Creatives! Each one also went home with a GC that they could use to have a customized Boss Bella or Happy Rebel Shirt made!

We had such a great time during the launch. The ladies are so thankful to these brands for all the support that was given! We appreciate all the help to inspire all these women in our country!

So, are you excited to be a Boss Bella? A Happy Rebel? Support us by subscribing to our newsletter at http://beautybizbliss.com 🙂 We will be announcing a lot of things and developments really really soon!

Be a #BossBella!

Love,

PS: Would you like to partner with us?

Beauty Biz Bliss will be a strong brand and will do so much in helping partner brands build brand awareness and engagement with our audience. If you think you have something to share or contribute or if you are a brand who wants to tap our community, please contact rj@beautybizbliss.com

PPPS: The #OleiaMoments contest is still ongoing! Post a picture of your Oleia Moment and use #OleiaMoments and #BossBellas #BeautyBizBliss and get a chance to win a Php 1000 GC from Charles and Keith! We will announce the winner on July 15! Post away on Facebook!

I’m in this cafe that is really comforting for some reason. The voices of other people seem to drown out voices in my head. There are a lot of days and today was one of the shittiest days I have ever had (I apologize for using that term, but I don’t know how else I could describe it). The shittiest days start out really great and perfect that it makes a bad thing seem so huge and unbearable — and shitty.

People think that it’s easy to destroy someone’s life through social media. It is, actually. It is easy to do especially when the person’s a faker. With this, I will give you the truth and the whole truth about me. That way, you, my readers know me and I have nothing to hide.

The truth is i’m not perfect and I have a lot of flaws. Yup, I’m human (surprise, surprise!).

My number one flaw is that I dream big and strive so much. I work so hard to achieve goals that I think would be good for my family, but I stress myself and I allot a lot of time working and less time taking care of myself and my family. In the process, I doubt myself and think if I really made the right choice and decision. Yes, that’s a flaw and it makes me feel like a crazy person. It makes me feel incompetent, sad and lonely. It makes me feel that I’m probably not living the life that was meant for me.

We all glorify people who chase their dreams — those who turn things into unimaginable realities and those who are doing what they love. But when you become a wife and more so, a mom, it’s doubly hard to do so. You have to consider a lot of things and make decisions based on how it will affect your spouse, your child and your family. Will it affect them in anyway? Will they be happy when you decide a certain way? Will they be disappointed? Will you just choose a path that will be better for them and let go of your dreams? Will you continue to chase dreams and seem like the shitty mommy and wife that you will obviously be to a lot of people? Will you just lie and say that you’re happy with your life and just go with the flow and continue to feel empty inside? Will the decision that you make truly make you happy? Is this what you really want out of life?

You have to make tough choices and tough decisions. People think that being a woman in business is easy, that we have got it all covered. We just flash our charming smiles, and everyone bows down to your wishes. But it is not like that at all.

You fall in love. You marry. You have a child. You try to make ends meet and help out by chasing those dreams that you know will make everyone happy, and yet, you are condemned for it by everyone.

You are condemned for not having enough time for your child. You are condemned for making decisions that you made with a different intention, which are perceived differently. You are condemned for wishing and dreaming of a life that you want to have, because again, people think that you are not content with what you have now.

I honestly am contemplating if I should publish this, but I just wanted to share my thoughts tonight. I just wanted to share with you that being a woman is hard. Being an adult is hard. ‘Being’ is hard but that’s life.

More and more groups are being formed to help and support other women. I love it! I sincerely think that we women need all the support that we can get to achieve our goals and aspirations. I think that instead of harbouring feelings of jealousy, let us pull one another up.

There are two events that I’m really excited about. The first one is the BDJ Women’s Summit. This will be on April 16, this Saturday. The event will be from 10 am to 9 pm and they will have powerful women as speakers.

The other event that I am excited about is the Building a Business out of Passion talk from CEO Moms.

Manila Workshops is happy to partner with the CEO Moms in spreading the word about this 3 hour talks. The talk will be at MindChamps International Preschool in BGC. Here is the workshop outline:

Connect with yourself and discover the things you are most passionate about.

Get the right motivation and guidance from a certified life coach on how to turn your passion into a purposeful business.

Create a passion board and take it home with you and let it serve as your daily inspiration to become an entrepreneur.

Get to know more about start-ups from a venture capitalist, and get insights on how you can possibly develop one yourself.

Build a supportive network with like-minded women. Share your fears, concerns and excitement, and encourage one another to success.

Continue on and complete the workshop series to get the opportunity to have a constant guide in setting up your business, to launching and sustaining it in the early stages. Learn the most essential aspects in developing one and pin point which needs your attention the most and which aspects shortcuts can be applied to.

Who Should Attend:

Open to all moms and single ladies who want to create a business out of passion, learn about tech startups from women in startups and build a supportive network.

The speakers are two powerful women:

Andrea Goseco

Anda is an executive coach who uses a combination of her innate ability to understand people, coaching methods she learned through her coach certification and her business experience working with companies from various industries. She is able to create effective leaders by using methods that will create positive and lasting change which have a direct impact on business results.

Certified with coaching programs that are based in the U.S., with Career Coach Academy and Coach Training Alliance accredited with International Coach Federation (ICF), she also took certified coach courses in Singapore with Marshall Goldsmith Stakeholder Coaching and Gallup and is now an ACC member of ICF with over 700 hours of coaching experience.

Anda has worked with various industries as an executive coach—banks, telecommunications, real estate, hotels and resorts and shipping. The companies she has worked with include BDO, Globe Telecom, The Discovery Leisure Company, Rockwell Land, East West Bank, L’Oreal, HSBC, and Philippine Transmarine Carriers (PTC).

Aside from coaching, she also conducts training programs for leaders in organizations. She was also an HR consultant for Carrascal Nickel Corporation (CNC) focused on creating job descriptions and designing a leadership program to improve the overall capability of the organization.

Prior to being an Executive Coach, Anda worked with the HR Training Group of Globe Telecom and also worked as a marketing strategist leading successful brands such as Globe Postpaid and Globe Tattoo, Ambi Pur (Sara Lee Philippines), Tiffany and Co and Metropolitan Museum of Art (Rustan’s), and as Sales Manager with Ayala Land, Inc.

Anda was a columnist for Entrepreneur and was also featured as a business resource for F&B World and Money Sense magazine.

She completed her post college degree in Marketing at De La Salle University. Anda graduated from college at the University of Asia and the Pacific (UA&P) with a degree in Business Management.

Rina Neoh

Rina Neoh has more than 25 years of experience in both the corporate and entrepreneurial world. Her first real work experience started out at the age of 14 when she served as a shampoo girl in her mother’s salon, a job that allowed her to learn the rudiments of small business development and the importance of understanding the human side of business.

With a solid foundation in B.Sc. (Hons) Computer Science and a keen business sense acquired through an overseas MBA (International Business), Rina has delivered multi-million dollar returns from small business enterprises, which she has incubated, coached, invested in or promoted. She has developed her own expertise in solutions selling, complex tender bids and managing A-list accounts in her early careers, including winning prestigious accounts from the government and private sectors. Rina is also instrumental in two IPOs in Australian Stock Exchange and have executed complex cross border mergers and acquisitions.

Rina has a long track record and proven expertise in strategic marketing, product branding, information systems, business development, venture capital financing, investor relations and high-level business negotiations — skills which she brought to every business she acquired or advised during her long career.

A seasoned executive with an operations and systems perspective, Rina is well known for setting up and developing companies across Asia Pacific, including brick-and-mortar and technology-enabled enterprises. She has a knack for incubating new businesses, finding new markets, creating unique value propositions and creating sustainable revenue streams.

Rina co-founded Mercatus Capital Pte Ltd, a homegrown incubator based in Singapore and a venture accelerator since 2006. Through its angel networks, Mercatus Group provided seed capital to promising new small ventures, with more than 30 startups seeded and incubated in Singapore, Malaysia, Australia, India, China and Hong Kong.

Rina holds strategic management roles, directorships and equities in Mercatus Capital, NEST Capital, Adiaco Advisors, RxR Capital, Synapse Global, Unlimited Brands, Fix Point, IdeasInc and Lattitude33. In addition to managing various companies as director or investor, Rina finds time to serve as business coach and adviser to several business advisory boards, NGOs, University and the Government of Peru, such as Startup Peru, UTAR Malaysia, Lianas Rising, Student Connect, Communi-T, Cherry Blair Foundation, among others.

Rina spends most of her free time advocating “greenfield” businesses, promoting social entrepreneurship, women empowerment and volunteerism work. She is an avid photographer, a curious traveller, and a passionate mountain trekker and wellness practitioner.